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Chapter 3
Arbiters Brief The Guardians successfully fought off the grubs, discovering that they were vulnerable to salt. Merle took a few shots at a large and nasty looking monster before realizing that it was Marko. Marko had discovered the hidey hole a few weeks earlier and had been sheltering there when the Grubs transformed him into a ravenous, wet mess. Upon leaving Marko's hideaway the PCs encountered a group of heavily armed military types, the leader of whom had a badge that said XRD on it. They had capture equipment and seemed knowledgeable about the supernatural menace in the city. They let the PCs pass with some minor harassment. 6 generic and a Combat were awarded. Merle First tactical encounter was anything but textbook. My allies are dangerously incompetent at this monster hunting thing. Worse, none seems to show any inclination to improve their combat skills or even do a few push-ups. There's only so much I can do to keep them alive. J-Dog seems to have at least some ability to swing clubs and the like. Millie's not much in combat but is useful on the procurement and infiltration sides. Charlotte claims to be a hacker but so far hasn't hacked anything. This worries me. Here's how things went down: we were crawling in the goo-filled pipe with entry into the larger side chamber blocked. I took point and waded through a few more of the small reptilian things, which swam in the goo/water to get close to us. I disposed of them quickly and silently, moving into the chamber and giving some basic instructions to the others. They were flailing around, apparently beset by the little squid lizards from behind, and failed to make use of my squad command. (Later they told stories about the creatures duplicating when knocked down. I was focused elsewhere but observed nothing of the sort. I suspect they just panicked.) Charlotte's salt shotgun proved effective at disposing of the things. I confronted Marko, but didn't realize it was him as he'd been hideously transformed. I assessed him as a threat and fired at him, but fumbled my pistol into the muck. Rather than retrieve it I entered hand-to-hand with him, but he shrugged off my strikes (high DC, high RF, or both). I then realized he wasn't fighting back and managed to communicate with him - he understood me but could not reply. J-Dog managed somehow to communicate with Marko telepathically. Very strange. Marko needs our help but I'm not sure what we can do for him. Need more info. The side chamber was his hideout from the cold, so it seems to me that whatever inflicted the squid lizards on the pipe system may have somehow done this to him as well. Ascending from the pipes (one end of which remains unexplored) we were caught by a team of well-armed paramilitary types who seemed familiar with this sort of situation. These XRD agents were led by officers Deckard and Chen. They're definitely players, but their interests and allegiances remain unknown. Charlotte This sewer goo is really gross. I wonder what the source is? Perhaps it's better that we don't know. What's that warm thing brushing up against my leg?!? Wow, shooting is much tougher than it seems. This goo is really slippery. It's so hard to hold onto this gun! No matter, I'll just keep blasting and picking it up until all the nasty monsters are dead. Holy crap. I'm paralyzed! This would be really scary if I didn't have the soothing rasta beats playing on my ear buds. It would probably be best to get out of this sewer but those sparks look nasty. I'm not very nimble so probably best not to risk it. Instead, i'll wallow in this narrow pipe and just keep blasting. Now there are two! They don't like salt! Too bad for them I'm feeling salty today! What is Merle up to over there? Zoinks! It's a big fucking monster-beast but it seems kind of friendly. Oh no. It's what's-his-face. He's got our tattoo. Eeeg. He does not look good. Like something out of a John Carpenter movie. Prince of Darkness or The Thing, maybe? Oh, look! It/he likes fish! Where was Eugene keeping that salmon? Probably better if I don't ask too many questions about that. Was his metamorphosis related to the paralyzing parasite beasts? He said he fell asleep and then woke up like this. I'm not sure why the heck he'd want to sleep down here but whatever. The goo was flowing from somewhere and it seemed that the parasites were at home in it. It may have even been helping them to reform after we killed them since they only did that when they were in the sewer water. Marko didn't look anything like them so there is no obvious connection other than by location. Was it just an accident that he ended up a meat-hungry monster? I sure hope he can find some help. We certainly are not the right group to do much about it. I feel lucky that he didn't decide to eat us since its not clear we could do anything to stop him. He took Merle's bullets with barely a flinch. Yay! Out of the sewer. Hold up. Who are these guys? They look pretty organized and their gear rocks. Look at that armor! Sploosh! I would totally own the next Fan Expo if I showed up wearing that! Master Chief FTW. They are a little scary, though. I want to tell the about Marko but if I do they might pull us all in for 'questioning' which does not sound good. Maybe i'll drop a hint about the salt instead so that they are prepared when the parasites start duplicating. I'll have to darkweb search them later to learn more about who they are. But first.... I've got some Hacking to do... J-Dog MYSTIC SKIN FETISH! Fuck...Prone...Still...Prone...So...Fuckin...Prone. Fuck...What...The...Fuck...Are...These...Things... Finally, I'm Up! Salt! Fuck Yeah Charlotte! Merle, wait, the girls are paralyzed, Fuck again! ELEMENTAL TORPEDO BITCHES!!!! OK, level one's not gonna cut it. ELEMENTAL TORPEDO (Lvl2) BITCHES!!!! Did I break the Girls free? Oh look they regenerate and come back as two. Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Paralysed. Merle, no, they Split in 2! Charlotte Salt Yeah! Marco, the Fuck! Coho? That's it, I'm out! The fuck were we thinking..? The Hell are these guys? So outclassed in every way... Millie Why did we go into that pipe? That’s the question. What kind of people learn that monsters are real, are looking to kill them and then decide to go exploring the sewer? I guess the why only matters if I thought it would change things next time… sigh. Anyway, everyone started panicking and shoving while I was stuck in the back trying to hold on to my flashlight and sword (ps: I fucking LOVE having a sword. I feel like a goddamn warrior princess). The next thing I knew, a bunch of those grubs were swarming around and I got stung. I wasn’t too worried until I couldn’t move. Fortunately, I could see Charlotte in front of me and I tried to use Eugene’s mindrape trick to get her to help… but then I saw she was paralyzed too. That’s when I realized how fucking stupid we were. Somehow, we managed to fight off the poison and finish off the grubs when I saw Marco. Of course, at the time I thought it was another horrible monster because he looked like the Toxic Avenger. Whatever happened to him, he was still Marco inside. All in all it was a pretty useful outing. What did we learn? We learned that it’s fucking disgusting to see a mutant eat a whole coho. On our way out, we got detained by fascists. Not your average VPD fascists, but hardcore military types. Packing serious firepower too. They seem to know something about all this spooky shit but we’re such.... Junior Monster Hunters we can’t even tell who’s side they’re on. I mean, obviously they’re on their own side, just like everyone. At least they didn’t execute or kidnap us, so I guess it could be worse. Not for Marco though, I imagine things are pretty fucking bad for him right about now. A bath and a good night sleep is all I want now. This has been a long fucking day. Category:Guardians